Amtrak’s 2014 Annual Report

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is incorporated under the terms of the District of Columbia Business Corporation Act (D.C. Code Section 29-301 et seq.), in accordance with the provisions of the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-518).

Amtrak is operated and managed as a for-profit corporation. Congress created Amtrak in 1970 to take over the intercity passenger rail services of approximately two dozen private railroads. In exchange for relieving these companies of their passenger rail obligations, federal law and regulatory order required them to allow Amtrak access to their tracks so it could independently operate its national intercity passenger rail network.